Reviews by Lita Doolan

Jack and the Beanstalk

Lita Doolan

The moral of this story, to help listeners utilise their own power, goes back 5000 years. Rooted in a group of stories classified as The Boy Who Stole Ogre's Treasure, Jack and the Beanstalk can be ...

This show documents how feelings emerge from the flesh. Hans Josephson captures the enormity of the human experience in solid works with a profound gravity. Layers of plaster are placed onto the work ...

In the best sense Unfinished World feels like a collaboration and breathes vital new life into the role of curator. Turner Prize nominee George Shaw has selected dozens of paintings and drawings by ...

I get slightly lost on the way to the ladies at Modern Art Oxford and stumble into a wonderful open studio housing work in progress by Tamarin Norwood. The doors of this working space are open to the ...

Cat DownThumping heart in the loopumping my fist on my chest to be awakefor the morning after the flying roman candles.There is a dead cat lying on the lawnand three more houses to checkbut no trace ...

The vastness of the conversations these massive photographs spark up is awe inspiring. Each landscape or scene depicts a part of the British horizon and tells a story about our modern lives. Looking ...

I caught up with the director of Humble Boy, Simon Tavener, on his way to rehearsal to find out how this season's production of the Oxford Guild at the Oxford Playhouse is shaping up. This does have ...

Walking past the large glass window of Science Oxford makes me feel like the keeper of a zoo, with vivid photographs of wildlife from around the globe on display. The images have an animated reality ...

To do this intellectual exhibition full justice would require a decade of study, but there is much on show to inspire the casual passer by like myself. The Bodleian exhibits works of literature that ...

Sitting late into the night, in the centre of Christ Church Cathedral a small group of local parishioners and Oxford alumni share an impassioned reaction to what is surely a triumph. Old and familiar ...

Murder in the Cathedral is causing a stir with tickets in short supply after selling out in a matter of weeks at the Box Office. The large cast is comprised partly of Oxford University Students who ...

Rona succeeds in capturing in big bold clear images domestic bliss turning mildly sour. The cracks are never self evident yet the texture of the paintings is too even for the painted characters to be ...

The range of architectural structures in each of Ackermann’s photographs varies, but the presence of water stays constant, flowing through each piece, offering a meditative quality. My favourite is ...

Writer Philip Ralph took 2 years to create this verbatim piece of deeply relevant political theatre. His work documents the struggle of Private Cheryl James’ parents to get their questions answered ...

The annual tradition of the Oxfordshire Gang Show arrives making the New Theatre the embodiment of a true community venue. Local Units of Scouts, Beavers, Brownies, Guides and Rangers are all warmly ...

A candlelit harpsichord recital by Kah-Ming Ng of predominantly French Baroque music is interspersed by colourful stories told by the musician about the lives of the composers featured. The 6 musical ...

In this grand dame of old theatres, originally a home to music hall in 1836, the performance of this portrayal of New York at the turn of the twentieth century has the effortless elegance of an old ...

Two lesbians, quivering with fear on a sofa, follow a man standing inside a projected world atlas highlighting countries where homosexuality is a prison sentence. There appears to be a clear global ...

In a gently blurred film Helen Ganly fills a Polish river with paper origami boats carrying glowing candlelight. Timed exquisitely to synchronise with the fading natural light the sight of the flames ...

Inspired by researching the F. B. Brady Collection of paper theatres held in Christ Church Library, Rachel Williamson presents neat compact cabinets full of tiny treasures and reproduced images from ...

The sparse meditative backgrounds in Qureshi’s portraits are painted with few colours, it is the small details that inform the viewer of the bigger picture. In one landscape a multiplying family of ...

An overwhelming aspect of the evening is enjoying the enthusiasm with which this predominantly teenage audience receives two leading edge contemporary short plays; one each by Mark Ravenhill and Enda ...

Stripped down to bare essentials as the title of the work suggests, this is 5 duets 2 solos and 10 instruments played live on stage, performed by four contemporary dancers of Walker Dance Park Music. ...

Community theatre at its finest takes place in Bayards Hill School, as the audience is seated to the sound of an incoming tide bringing with it a day in the life of a Welsh coastal town. Hanging from ...

One of the finest actors of our generation, Warren Mitchell revives his role as Mr Green, an abandoned old man who is visited by young executive Ross who is serving a community sentence for running ...

For just the day or a full working week, Creation Theatre offers children’s workshops, often themed to tie in with their seasonal performances. During the Arabian Nights Christmas show of 2006, the ...

The square canvases of Claire Wiltsher’s work accentuate the dimensions of the dramatic global scenery she captures with oil paint and mixed media. Materials collected on her worldwide journeys are ...

Siobhan Davies Dance performs Two Quartets, each with a fundamentally different approach to structure. The first group of dancers are barefoot wearing black and white tie-dyed loose-fitting linen and ...

Photographer Peter Lavery captures the natural life of his home, Brandiers Farm in Wiltshire, using a technique that delivers photographs that have the appearance of oil paintings. This technique is ...

Yael Farber cleverly adapts the Oresteia trilogy to tell the story behind the painful healing process experienced by the survivors of post-Apartheid South Africa, centring around the dynamics of the ...

Moonscope is a stunning site-specific exhibition of work by local Watercolour artist Rebecca Hind and Astronomer and Portraitist John Russell. The Museum of the History of Science vestibule cabinets, ...

Virtuoso Flamenco guitarist Juan Martin raises the roof in a sold-out performance at the Oxford Playhouse with his Rumba compositions. Whilst the heart of Flamenco lies in the songs (or cantes), the ...

University of Oxford Students perform Pirandello’s classic piece of theatre of the absurd with much creativity. The play asks profound questions about the nature of identity in the dialogue between ...

The subject matter of this show is tacked after the interval when a clear plastic window separates the audience from Lisa in her bleak individual hospital room for one. A sterile white bedside light ...

Purple’s translucent abstract paintings offer the viewer many different layers to explore and get lost in, like a walk in an open field. The compositions have a style similar to the contemporary St ...

Justin Neal’s photographs are intended to make us consider the link between the past and the present but in my case does this through hoots of laughter. A knight in bright shining armour goes for a ...

A retrospective of Callum Innes’ work from the past 15 years gives the viewer a chance to observe the subtle variations that flow through each of his series of work. Innes develops a new vocabulary ...

Densely packed with intricate clock faces, downstairs in the History of Science Museum the story of clock making in England is told. In many cases local materials are used and regional styles emerge ...

This fine piece of architecture, designed by Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe in 1938, houses the recently refurbished (in shades of chestnut and tan) theatre bar. After completing the Festival Theatre at ...

If you have been easy-jetting your way around Europe recently and need a potted reminder of the aromas of Rome or the seasonings of St Etienne, then 'Olives' on the High Street is the place to bring ...

Improbable and the National Theatre of Scotland present this short, perfectly crafted piece of complete theatre. Both companies pride themselves on producing theatre for the people and the superbly ...

Mackie's back in town, with this gritty Opera for beggars performed to an extremely high standard throughout by student group, Musicals of Oxford. Director Lotte Wakeham directs a 21 strong ensemble ...

Oxford's newest tourist attraction, opened by Her Majesty on the 5th May, draws local and international visitors alike and part of the joy of the tour is hearing other people's diverse reactions to ...

450 bricks have been made in the Chilterns from local clay and straw and then assembled by the artist Ilona Nemeth to form a closed corridor in Modern Art Oxford's lower gallery, to be viewed by one ...

Fired by the geography of an early childhood in Birmingham, Alabama in the 1950's, Kerry James Marshall uses a wide range of art references to position the black figure centrally on the Art history ...

The anti-Semitic theme of Shakespeare's controversial work is intelligently interpreted by Creation Theatre, playing the old Elizabethan law of mercy against the emerging new law of selfish usury. In ...

To celebrate the centenary of Sir John Betjeman's birth, the Bodleian Library is exhibiting first manuscripts and artefacts, some taken from private collections, that document the influence of Oxford ...

Passing through the atmospheric graveyard of St Giles prepares the senses for Flora McLachlan's enchanting landscapes. The ornate, richly coloured stained glass windows of the church frame the deep ...

Set around a piece of history itself, namely the thirteenth century Bastion tower, The Oxford Story squeezes 900 years of history into a highly enjoyable 45-minute visit. Devised by the creators of ...

Angela Bulloch's functional sculptures play with the ways in which we interpret different types of information. Her work appears simplistic (sound chairs gained her a Turner Prize nomination in 1997) ...

When a fire destroyed Headington's well-loved chippy (the Mediterranean) there was uncertainty as to whether the eatery would re-open. Last week saw the re-branding of the restaurant when Posh Fish ...